Remastered EMI Gold version with extra tracks

Track Listing

1. Reap The Wild Wind
2. Serenade
3. Mine For Life
4. Hymn
5. Visions In Blue
6. When The Scream Subsides
7. We Came To Dance
8. Cut And Run
9. Song (We Go)
10. Hosanna
11. Monument
12. Break your back
13. Overlook

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36171 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
In the early-'80s, the new wave movement was disintegratinginto a million fragments, as those who embraced guitars andthose who embraced synthesizers drew lines in the sand and began to vehemently territorialise. An adjunct arm of the synth-pop scene (see Gary Numan, OMD, The Human League) grew from out of the new wave, and, armed to the teeth with the Germanic sequencers of the '70s and state-of-the-art synthesizers, these groups became part of what was known as the New Romantics. Some grew large (Duran Duran, ABC), others recededinto the cut-out bins--Ultravox grabbed the brass ring for a short while, courtesy of their brilliant VIENNA album. QUARTET followed two releases later, produced by former Beatlesdirector George Martin, featuring a fairly stripped-down, but still illustrious Ultravox.
The opening "Reap the WildWind", with its gigantic drumbeats, soaring strings, and windswept synths remains a high point for the band, and remains the album's finest moment. Ultravox were in something of adisarray at the time of QUARTET's release, but their glorious sound--the sort of stuff the Romans might have danced to had they installed sub-woofers in the Coliseum--remained fresh and invigorating.

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Customer Reviews

Solid and varied album
This album is overall a very worthy sounding piece of neo-classical synth. However it is missing something somewhere between track 9 (an original from 1982) and track 13 (an extra track). Dont perceive me wrongly, as those extra tracks are extremely macabre and mannequin like, which is why I like Ultravox. Especially 'Break your back', a beat-box ballad reminding me of 'Hiroshima mon amour'. 'Serenade' is a wonderful sounding song, which really made me think of classical music in its use of ostinati and moving, progressive bass line etc. This album is a very artistic 'art-house' offering, not as atmospheric as the monumentally dark 'Rage in Eden', but it sounds more accessible than Lament and especially 'The Island Years'. I couldnt give it 5 stars because it doesnt grip me enough to listen to it all the way through and not having to look at the seconds left of the a song! 'Rage In Eden' on the other hand just takes me along in the journey, with some tracks sounding as if they've come from 'The Shining' or 'The Hunger'.

Mine For Life!
I remember this album being released and being rated only 1* material by Robin Smith in the Record Mirror - it is sadly lacking in objectivity to allow a heavy metal enthusiast to review an album overflowing with electrosynth melody and classical overtones. From the moment that you first flip this disc, you are onto a winner. Reap The Wild Wind was the show opener on the 'Monument' tour and is a fitting start to this album. Despite being only an album track, 'Serenade' is certainly my favourite song on this LP - accomplished and catchy - play it to your kids and they will demand piano lessons. The guitar riffs in Mine For Life transport you back to the pre-Ure era and Hymn is a song to sing along to. Visions in Blue is technically the best work that Ultravox ever produced and includes (in classical music terms) an interrupted cadence - it has stood the test of time every bit as well as Vienna and is worthy of equal recognition. 'Cut and Run' is another incredibly infectious and catchy tune, while 'The Song (We Go)' includes the memorable drumming sequence that the boys performed on stage at the end of 'The Voice'. This is truly an unforgettable album and if you are new to Ultravox, it is a great start because it is much more of a complete entity than anything that came before and after. All the LPs up to and including 'Lament' have moments of brilliance but there is nothing to match this for a suite of great music.

ultravox quartet
what more can be said about this album, i consider it to be one of the definative albums released by ultravox, the extra tracks originally featured on release b-sides and can also be found on recent 'rare' ultravox releases.